Mendon's Robert Riley (19) and Rodney Arnott, right, are slow to get up after Muskegon Catholic intercepted a pass late in Saturday's game at Schwartz Field. Teammate Derek Zagon (62) also is shown in the photo. (Josh Mauser | MLive.com)

MENDON, MI -- John Schwartz worked on an off-track file cabinet inside his Mendon football coaches office Saturday afternoon. He grew more aggravated as he slid the drawer back and forth and tried to get it to align properly.

It was just one of those days for the Hornets. Things seemed out of whack all afternoon.

A youthful, yet hungry Muskegon Catholic Central squad had a lot to do with that. The Crusaders beat Mendon at the point of attack, and overpowered the top-ranked and defending state champion Hornets, 28-6, in a much-anticipated Division 8 regional finals clash.

The loss was Mendon's first on Schwartz Field since a 20-0 setback against Schoolcraft on Oct. 13, 2006.

The Hornets, who carried a 25-game winning streak into Saturday's contest, finish the season with an 11-1 record. They beat MCC at home in last year's district finals, 28-21.

"This year, they beat us right on the line of scrimmage. That was the name of the game," Schwartz said. "Hell, we had 11 first downs. Our kids just got beat up up front on offense and on defense, I thought. We couldn't get anything going.

"Bottom line is, and I hate saying it this time of year, they just played a hell of a lot harder than our kids did. Our kids just kind of were going through the motions."

MCC (9-3), which outrushed the Hornets 397-130, will face Harbor Beach (11-1) in next Saturday's state semifinals at a neutral site to be determined. Harbor Beach beat Waterford Our Lady, 17-10.

This was the fifth matchup between Mendon and MCC, which are both perennial, statewide powers. In the previous four meetings, the winner has gone on to capture the state championship.

MCC's victory against Mendon Saturday defied a previous trend that saw the home team win each of the previous four matchups.

"In my mind it's the regional finals, but it's a huge hurdle to clear -- a huge hurdle," said longtime MCC coach Mike Holmes, a former Hackett Catholic Central and Kalamazoo College football standout. "I told the kids when the playoffs started we're one of 32 teams, then one of 16, one of eight, and now we're one of four teams left after beating Mendon. Our whole focus has been one week at a time."

Holmes, who is rumored to be retiring after this season, has guided the Crusaders to six state titles -- the most recent coming in 2008.

MCC looked the part of a state championship contender despite being even younger than a Mendon squad that had only four seniors in its playing group.

Crusaders sophomore Tommy Scott carried the load early and often. He scored his team's first two touchdowns on runs of 20 and 5 yards to put MCC up 14-0 with 4:26 left in the opening half, then added a 10-yard TD run for the game's final points with 7:36 left in the third.

Scott finished with a game-high 144 yards on 18 carries -- the exact same numbers as MCC senior running back Jessie Anderson.

Big senior tight end Cari Campbell caught a 26-yard TD pass with 50 seconds left in the first half to give MCC a 21-0 lead.

"I feel like they were a little bit quicker up front. They got underneath and they pushed us around a little bit more than what we wanted, opened some holes up for them to run through," Mendon senior two-way lineman Kevin Kuhlman said. "No. 5 (Scott) was extremely quick for them, and once he got out we really couldn't catch him."

Mendon tried to catch the Crusaders early in the second half, as sophomore Mitchell Coler dashed 67 yards for a TD to pull the Hornets within 21-6 less than two minutes into the third quarter.

Mendon could not consistently move the football, however, nor could the Hornets stop MCC on the ground.

Hornets senior Tyler Harris, who rushed for 249 yards in last week's district finals win over Climax-Scotts, was bottled up all afternoon. He managed only 15 yards on 13 carries.

"They came out ready to play today," Harris said about the Crusaders. "I mean, they weren't as big as they were last year, but they had a lot of speed and they were just here to hit and we kind of weren't."

Coler led Mendon with 76 yards on four rushing attempts. Senior quarterback Nick Eberstein had 38 yards on 11 carries and complete 10 of 21 passing attempts for 126 yards with one interception.

"Last year was fun in my junior year (winning a state title), and then my senior year I was looking to go out with a bang, but we couldn't quite get it," Harris said.

Schwartz, who has led the Hornets to 10 state titles, was pleased overall with his team's season even though it ended in unfamiliar fashion.

"These kids were 11-1, and we basically had four seniors play. That's what I told the kids, we got a lot of mileage out of them," Schwartz said. "The other half it was, we had a lot of kids that were hurt and didn't play, kids in trouble that couldn't play, and (they) just picked it up and played through all of that. How can you not be proud of these kids?"